The present disclosure relates to echogenically enhanced markers which are used for imaging medical devices within a body.
It is necessary in some medical treatments and applications to place a medical device subcutaneously (e.g. intravascularly) within a body and then subsequently and accurately locate the item within the body. For example, the physician or other user will wish to be able to easily locate the position of catheters or other devices (such as feeding tubes, chest tubes, and drainage tubes) within a body and movable or prone to movement within the body, via transcutaneous ultrasound. Additionally, many medical procedures require precise positioning of medical devices relative to other body parts and organs, such as biopsy procedures for example.
Current procedures can utilize periodic x-rays in order to locate medical devices positioned subcutaneously. However, such procedures can require moving the patient from a bed or room to the x-ray machine. Additionally, x-ray machines can be costly to operate and x-ray procedures are radiation intensive which can cause added complications for a medical patient.
Ultrasound imaging can be used as an alternative to x-ray for imaging medical devices within a body. By applying echogenic markers to medical devices placed within a body, screening processes can be performed bedside by using non-ionizing radiation. This prevents the problems associated with relocating a patient as well as problems associated with extended ionizing radiation exposure which can occur when using x-ray.
However, problems can arise from inherent noise when using ultrasound to image a medical device within a body. When imaging with ultrasound, it can be difficult to precisely locate a medical device especially in relation to body parts and organs due to lack of clarity and/or movement of body parts or ultrasound equipment used in the imaging process. In some cases, echogenic markers (such as echotipping) can increase the echogencity of a medical device. However, these devices can still suffer from problems with image noise and the ability of a physician to differentiate between the medical device and body tissue due to the image noise. Additionally, ultrasound image clarity can be reliant on a physician's ability to precisely position the ultrasound transducer relative to the medical device, which can cause increased difficulty with obtaining useable images.
Thus, there is a need for improvement in the field particularly related to echogenically enhanced medical devices or medical devices having echogenic markers which provide distinctive images which enable physicians to precisely position a medical device within the body relative to other medical devices or body tissue.